The devastating Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai underwater volcano erupted at ~04:15 UT on 15 January 2022. We captured the waves that erupted from the volcano propagating in the ionosphere by monitoring total electron content (TEC) perturbations utilizing ground-based global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers that receive electromagnetic signals transmitted from the geostationary satellites operated by the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS). Meanwhile, ground barometers detected unusual enhancements of air pressure traveling in the troposphere. A novel phenomenon shows that the waves can individually propagate with a speed of ~335 m/s in the ionosphere, which is faster than its’ ~305 m/s in the troposphere. We further examined multiple geophysical data at the particular site of the novel instrumental array. Analytical results show that the pressure enhancements traveling in the troposphere not only downward trigger ground vibrations mainly in the horizontal components without obvious time difference, but also upward, leading the secondary TEC perturbations with a ~12-min delay.

In order to clarify ultra-low-frequency (ULF) seismomagnetic phenomena, a sensitive geomagnetic network was installed in Kanto, Japan since 2000. In previous studies, we have verified the correlation between ULF magnetic anomalies and local sizeable earthquakes. In this study, we use Molchan’s error diagram to evaluate the potential earthquake precursory information in the magnetic data recorded in Kanto, Japan during 2000–2010. We introduce the probability gain (PG′) and the probability difference (D′) to quantify the forecasting performance and to explore the optimal prediction parameters for a given ULF magnetic station. The results show that the earthquake predictions based on magnetic anomalies are significantly better than random guesses, indicating the magnetic data contain potential useful precursory information. Further investigations suggest that the prediction performance depends on the choices of the distance (R) and size of the target earthquake events (Es). Optimal R and Es are about (100 km, 10^8.75) and (180 km, 10^8.75) for Seikoshi (SKS) station in Izu and Kiyosumi (KYS) station in Boso, respectively.

Large earthquakes are known to cause widespread changes in groundwater flow, yet their relation to subsurface transport is unknown. Here we report systematic changes in groundwater temperature after the 1999 M_w7.6 Chi‐Chi earthquake in central Taiwan, documented by a dense network of monitoring wells over a large (17,000 km²) alluvial fan near the epicenter. Analysis of the data reveals a hitherto unknown system of earthquake‐triggered basin‐wide groundwater flow, which scavenges geothermal heat from depths, changing groundwater temperature across the basin. The newly identified earthquake‐triggered groundwater flow may have significant implications on postseismic groundwater supply and quality, contaminant transport, underground repository safety, and hydrocarbon production.